"Pretend you meant it to happen." That was my middle school art teacher's advice whenever my projects failed to live up to my expectations (which occured frequently because I had absolutely no talent -- just desire).  Learning and acceptance were the order of the day in Mrs. S's class, and I always appreciated her sensitivity -- but it was still frustrating to have an outcome in mind that could never be realized due to lack of skill -- but not for lack of trying.

Alas, the specimen above is a perfect example of the "pretend you meant it to happen" philosophy. I took a picture of this gnarly but kind of elegant mushroom that we found growing out of the floor mat at the bottom of the stairs on our back porch. Then I decided to gussy up the picture by darkening the background a bit with my oh-so-cool photoshop Elements 7 program. Well, I have no idea what I did. Eventhough I own a "Teach Yourself Visually" guide, and go online, the program remains a mystery -- full of fun surprises that I cannot duplicate.  I may be a luddite but I will perservere until I get this thing figured out!!!

For informational purposes, here is the original shot: